Let’s face it. Purpose has a bad rep these days. And no wonder, it’s everywhere: in ad campaigns, brand manifestos, social media hashtags, even on packaging.

We’ve all seen it – perhaps even done it ourselves – brands come up with a snazzy purpose statement, slap it on their website, launch a “social good” campaign, give a one-off payment to some charity – and then? Call it a day. Meanwhile, the business model stays the same. No substantial impact. No authenticity whatsoever.

But here’s the truth: real impact can’t come from your communication or CSR program! It has to start at the core of your brand.

If you’re a brand that genuinely wants to make a difference, the opportunity and responsibility are clear: it’s time to go deeper and create meaningful change.

Real impact comes from how your brand shows up in the world - boldly, bravely, and with unwavering clarity.

In this article, I’ll show you how to move beyond the marketing BS to build a brand that creates meaningful impact. Because any brand has the power to challenge the status quo and drive real change.

Introducing The 4B Brand Model

I’ll admit it, I participated in this world of superficial purpose for a long time. But over the years, the friction I felt with the lack of values and the single-minded pursuit of profit and growth led me to burnout. I started questioning everything about the industry I had contributed to for so many years. I realised that all the times I had felt stifled and all the frustrations I had bottled up were giving me a model for a much more authentic way of building brands.

This is how my 4B Brand Model was born: Big, Bold, Brave and Beloved.

Brands that lead BIG change, are BOLD enough to challenge the status quo, BRAVE enough to stand up for what they believe in and become BELOVED by a community who shares their values and beliefs. 

The 4B Brand Model for Positive Impact

1. BIG means your brand leads the way for others to follow

If you want to make a big impact, you must lead the way for your entire industry to evolve.

Being the first to do things differently is never easy, but by showing there is another way, you open up new possibilities for the overall industry to progress. And your brand wins by leading the way.

This can be by bringing breakthrough new technology - but it doesn’t have to be. It can also be starting a new conversation that helps evolve society or a new way of operating that contributes to more sustainable approaches and behaviours.

Tony’s Chocoloney’s is a great example of a brand with a BIG purpose: it was founded with the purpose to make all chocolate 100% slave free.

Chocolate is not a breakthrough new idea. But Tony’s has led a new conversation in the industry, building awareness that there are still 3 million children who work illegally on cocoa farms today – and working to change that.

Cocoa supply chains remain dominated by a group of chocolate giants that keep prices as low as possible. This creates a poverty trap for farmers, leading to illegal child labor and modern slavery.

Tony’s entered the game with a fully transparent supply chain, investing in long-term partnerships with farmer cooperatives and helping them professionalise. They pay cocoa farmers higher wages and invest in agricultural knowledge and training to help improve productivity on the farms.

What makes their purpose BIG is that they actively seek partners who are interested in applying their model, aiming to move the entire industry out of child slavery. As Tony’s says “alone, we make slave-free chocolate, but together we make all chocolate slave-free”.

Tony’s Chocolonely’s celebrates competitive brands joining its open supply chain

2. BOLD means your brand challenges the status quo

Challenging industry norms is a win-win:

1. You differentiate your brand from all the others out there
2. AND you can make a positive impact

Start by asking yourself what frustrates or angers you the most about the industry you operate in and how can you change that?

By challenging the status quo, your brand can positively impact the collective brainprint: the intangible but enduring changes in people’s thinking, habits, and behaviours influenced by marketing.

Changing brainprint is how brands can evolve consumption habits and shift behaviours and beliefs. This is arguably even more crucial than decreasing footprint, as footprint occurs as a consequence of our brainprint!

A great example of a BOLD purpose is iD Genève, an innovative watch brand that is not afraid to break the codes of the luxury industry by using recycled materials.

Not only is iD Genève making circular watches from recycled materials – when all the other luxury watch brands continue using non-regenerative raw materials – but even more importantly, iD Genève is redefining what luxury means today for a whole new generation of consumers. The impact the brand is having on brainprint is so much bigger! Nicolas Freudiger, the brand’s co-founder, put it well when he articulated the brand purpose as “shifting consumers’ perception of recycled materials to put the luxury industry at the centre of the ecological transition”.

iD Genève is reinventing the identity of luxury in today’s world

3.  BRAVE means your brand lives up to what it stands for

We need to redefine success beyond the realms of growth and profit. Success means growing your brand andhaving a measurable social impact. So the more you grow, the bigger the positive impact!

This means that a brand needs to act on its purpose. Without action, purpose remains a superficial communication tool which risks being deemed as greenwashing and/or purpose-washing.

Lifebuoy, a commodity brand that sells hand-soap, was born more than 100 years ago at a time when infectious diseases were the primary cause of death. The brand’s purpose is to help parents ensure their kids fall ill less often.

Beyond traditional communication, Lifebuoy focuses on developing educational content that encourages hygiene behaviour change. The brand developed multiple handwashing programmes designed for various settings and purposes. One example is the Lifebuoy School of 5, a school-based program to teach kids the five key moments for using soap each day. The brand developed a comic book with 5 superheroes and the children receive a diary with bubbles for each of the superheroes that they have to tick off each day. Teachers and parents sign off each week and can give little prizes to encourage the children in their progress. This program works as it reinforces good habits, whilst being fun and rewarding.

By acting on its purpose, Lifebuoy has not only grown to a billion $ brand, but has also reached over 1 billion people in terms of social impact.

Lifebuoy School of 5 school-program

4.  BELOVED means your brand makes its clients the hero of the story

No brand, no matter how innovative or bold, can make a difference without clients who engage with and buy it.

The story you tell shouldn’t be about the brand, but about how anyone who engages with it can make a difference. Because the real impact comes from helping your clients make the difference that they want to make in the world.

This is what drives connection, trust, and love – and ultimately starts a movement of positive change.

Back in 2004, Dove launched its Real Beauty campaign, challenging the norms of the beauty industry which were affecting women’s mental health. In its more recent campaigns, the brand is leading the conversation on the danger of social media on young girls. In The Cost of Beauty, Dove invites parents to act and sign a petition to pass the Kids Online Safety act. In Reverse Selfie, Dove shares resources for parents to have the “selfie talk” with their daughters.

Dove really makes its clients the heroes of the story, with the brand simply acting as the enabler (or the “mentor” in the hero’s journey). Even the brand tagline, "Let's Change Beauty", is inclusive, implying that it is together that we will make an impact.

Dove Reverse Selfie campaign

The Recap

Going beyond the marketing BS requires brands to take bold steps.

The 4B Brand Model can help you frame how to think about building a brand that aims to make a real impact in the world:

• BIG: lead the way for others to follow and evolve your entire industry
• BOLD: challenge the status quo to create new possibilities
• BRAVE: take authentic action that leads to measurable impact
• BELOVED: make your clients the heroes of the story

With this model, you differentiate yourself from your competitors and rally a tribe who believes what you believe. This means your brand will grow and the more you grow, the more you will have a positive impact.

In my book, I call that a win-win!

So what are you waiting for?

Is your brand ready to step up and transform the world?

Want to dive deeper into the 4B Brand Model?

Sign up for my FREE MasterClass on May 1st 2025, 4-5pm Central European time:https://www.linkedin.com/events/beyondthemarketingbs-howbrandsc7316359461772668928/theater/

And if you’re ready to build a brand that creates real impact, registration for my 6-week online group program starting on May 7th is now open.

🦋 Find out more and sign up here: https://www.thebutterflymovements.com/build-your-brand-for-positive-impact

Spots are limited to ensure a personalised experience, so make sure you sign up soon!